Cuttings from cut flowers

In my mother-in-law's lovely garden in Bristol there is a corkscrew willow tree, about five feet tall and wide. Its twisted branches are covered in pussy-willow puffs in spring and form a striking, sculptural silhouette in winter. A similar sized tree would cost at least £40 in the shops, but my mother-in-law got hers for free by, several years ago, taking a large sprig of Salix babylonica 'Tortuosa' which had formed part of a church flower arrangement and sticking it in some moist soil.

This got me thinking about the possibility of creating plants from cut flowers. Though few plants "take" as easily as willow, many other flowering shrubs or foliage plants which are commonly found in flower arrangements can be propagated fairly easily from cuttings. Not long ago, it was common for gardeners to propagate their own plants by growing from seed, or from stem, root or leaf cuttings. But the recent spate of garden makeover programmes on television has led the new generation of gardeners to believe that plants are to be bought in fully-grown from garden centres rather than lovingly raised themselves. The very idea of taking cuttings raises terror in even quite experienced gardeners: I'm ashamed to say that I myself have seldom strayed beyond the most foolproof candidates such as pelargoniums and brugmansia, which I simply stick in a jar of water on a sunny windowsill and wait for the roots to form.

It was to encourage and revive gardeners' interest in propagation that John Cushnie - a landscape gardener best-known as a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4's Gardener's Question Time - wrote his most recent book, How to Propagate: Techniques and Tips for Over 1000 Plants (Kyle Cathie £19·99 - see below). Cushnie has been growing plants from cuttings for more than 40 years; while still a schoolboy, he raised a bit of extra pocket money by rooting hundreds of chrysanthemum cuttings and growing them on into plants, and it was to him I turned for advice on creating plants from bouquets.

"It's a great way of saving money and letting that gift or floral tribute live on," he says. "Obviously fresh material is desirable but if the stems are in water and the foliage is fresh, with no signs of wilting, then there is every chance of success."

At this time of year the things most likely to take are semi-ripe cuttings of conifers and lavender; but by October, he says, hardwood cuttings of hydrangea, philadelphus, weigelia and roses can be rooted out in the garden border. Hebe, hypericum and skimmia, greenery that is commonly found in cut flower bunches, are other good candidates.

There are three types of stem cuttings - softwood (young, sappy growth from lilac, lavender and fleshy-stemmed plants such as busy lizzies and begonias); semi-ripe (springy shoots that bend but do not snap, which can be taken from July to October); and hardwood cuttings that are the twiggy sticks of this year's growth and best taken after leaf-fall in October or November. Each type requires special treatment, so exact instructions are impossible to give here, but it's always crucial to water the plant well a day or two beforehand, to use a very sharp knife or razor blade in order to reduce damage to the stem, and to make sure that hands, tools and work surfaces are scrupulously clean, as many cuttings fail due to rot or disease that sets in to the wound.

For more detailed instructions, buy Cushnie's book or order an excellent DVD on the topic made by another of the real experts - Derry Watkins of Special Plants Nursery in Wiltshire. If, like my mother-in-law's willow, the stems in your bouquet have already sprouted roots in the vase, Cushnie advises taking advantage of this and letting them continue. "The trick is to transfer the water-loving rooted plant to compost," he says.

"Remove the stems you don't need and gradually add soil to the water until it becomes wet compost. At that stage pot the cuttings, weaning them off the waterlogged conditions as you go."

Creating plants from cuttings is a lovely way of making something lasting from a particularly special bouquet - one given for a silver or golden wedding anniversary, perhaps, or even flowers from a funeral. The most obvious example, of course, is a bride's bouquet, which might contain roses, jasmine, honeysuckle, mimosa or frothy white philadelphus (commonly known as 'bride's blossom'), all of which are relatively easy to raise from cuttings. Myrtle is another bride's favourite which can be propagated with ease; in fact many of the mature myrtle trees in large, public and private gardens in the UK are descended from cuttings that were taken from the sprigs of myrtle in Queen Victoria's wedding bouquet more than 150 years ago.

How to Propagate by John Cushnie (Kyle Cathie) is published on September 21. To order for £17·99 + £1·25 p&p, please call Telegraph Books on 0870 428 4115.

Waitrose has launched a florist-style range of bouquets and is offering a unique Blossom & Bloom gift bag of sunflowers interwoven with tropical Molucella, white antirrhinum and China grass, worth £19·99, to the first 20 readers to write in before September 3.